Social Software and Language Acquisition

This chapter describes how the social software tools that characterize Web 2.0, such as wikis and blogs, can be used as a valid substitute for more traditional Learning Management Systems in the context of e-learning and blended learning language courses. First, we will give a brief overview of how the educational arena is changing and the role social software can play in promoting these changes. Then we will describe two experimental courses carried out at the University of Padova using social software. The chapter ends with a discussion of the role of these tools in formal education. The aim of the chapter is to show how these tools allow language educators to take network-based language teaching beyond the limits of planned classroom activities, offering students new opportunities to access and produce real language in real situations.